Please note: You need to have 'Active content' enabled in your IE browser in order to see the index of articles on this webpage

Army launches Operation Taguta

Zim Independent

AS starvation
stalks the country, the government has turned to the army in a bid to revive
an agricultural sector ruined by the chaotic and often violent land reform
programme.

This comes as a parliamentary portfolio committee slammed
government for poor planning in the agricultural
sector.

High-level official sources said government would soon launch
Operation Taguta/Sisuthi to avert looming starvation. The operation - to be
run by the army, police, prisons, and intelligence service - was expected to
kick off on November 7 but is running behind schedule.

The
initiative, a clear admission of failure by the government, will be headed
by Agriculture minister Joseph Made, widely blamed for misleading the
country on food stocks, while Defence minister Sydney Sekeramayi will be his
deputy. Made said yesterday he was not aware of the programme, while
Sekeramayi was not reachable for comment.

Sources said the
project was conceived at the Joint Operations Command (JOC), which brings
together the army, police, prisons and the intelligence service, and has now
been finalised.

Meetings have been held between the project promoters
and officials from the Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (Arda)
and the Agricultural Research and Extension Services (Arex).

The
army, Arda and Arex are currently identifying farms to spearhead the
project. Farms which are under-utilised are the main targets. Sources said
the JOC would supervise the operation, which effectively militarises
agriculture and bears the hallmarks of Stalinist agricultural
planning.

Central bank governor Gideon Gono said in May command
agriculture was coming.

"Command agriculture seeks to optimise
output by requiring a minimum output of food or export crops, and is central
to agriculture as well as general economic recovery," Gono said
then.

This was in the face of evidence of spreading starvation which
is no longer just affecting vulnerable social groups, but also the army
itself. Soldiers have reportedly been sent on leave to save on food
supplies, and some barracks have been partially closed.

A report
compiled by the parliamentary portfolio committee on lands, land reform and
resettlement, which recently assessed the level of preparedness for the
2005/6 agriculture season, said government had failed to raise the needed
$15 trillion to fund the command agriculture project.

It said the
Agriculture ministry and Treasury lacked the capacity to "bankroll the
programme to the tune of $14,9 trillion due to other pressing
priorities".

"Hence as late as September, Treasury had still not
committed itself to funding the programme."

The report
said these targets were not going to be met due to lack of money and poor
planning.

"This ambitious programme by government, though it looks
noble on paper, seems to be a still-birth," the parliamentary report said.
"Agriculture stakeholders including farmers unions expressed ignorance on
the command agriculture model.

"Your committee failed to
understand how government could formulate and implement a programme of such
magnitude without consulting key stakeholders in the agricultural sector.
The gap between government-set targets and the available stocks of inputs
points to a serious lack of proper planning by government bureaucrats." -
Staff Writers.

Tsvangirai speaks out

Dumisani MuleyaMOVEMENT for
Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai said yesterday his party
will resolve its infighting at its congress early next year.

He said the
party would emerge stronger from the conflict which centres on the senate
election on November 26.

Tsvangirai said the congress, set for
February month-end, would deal with the ongoing strife and map a way
forward. "Congress, which is coming in February, will sort out this crisis.
The issue of leadership renewal and cohesion and the current situation will
be resolved by the people,"

Tsvangirai said in an interview at his
Strathaven home in Harare.

"The MDC will survive beyond this crisis.
It's just a temporary setback. You must understand the party is going
through a process of self-renewal but it will emerge stronger with or
without the same leaders."

The MDC is fighting a war of attrition
between camps led by Tsvangirai and another by secretary-general Welshman
Ncube over the pending senate election. Tsvangirai's faction is pushing for
a boycott of the poll, while the Ncube group is campaigning for
participation.

Tsvangirai said preparations for congress were going
on well. He said if the Ncube camp boycotted congress the event would go
ahead regardless.

"Congress will go ahead. We are not going to be
hamstrung by divisions over senate. The people will elect a new leadership
and that leadership will have to move the party beyond this crisis," he
said.

"We have to embark on a strategy of democratic resistance. The
strategic decision I took as party leader to boycott the senate election was
precisely designed to keep the party on track.

He conceded that
the party leadership had lost the bigger picture of the national crisis in
the heat of differences over senate elections. He said he had gone through
similar situations in the past and hoped the MDC power struggles would end
soon.

"We are going through a period of turbulence and we have to
survive this situation because the real struggle still lies ahead. The
regime has not been defeated and this infighting gives it a breathing
space," he said.

"All parties go through a period of turbulence, look
at the ANC in South Africa, Zanu PF, the ruling parties in Malawi and Kenya.
They have internal problems but the challenge is how to deal with such
issues when they arise. I think the MDC has adequate and strong mechanisms
to deal with its own problems."

Told that the MDC had failed to
dislodge the incumbent regime in the past and now appears even less able to
do so, Tsvangirai said: "We know our strengths, our weaknesses and our
capacities."

He denied allegations of "willfully violating" the
constitution, being a dictator, a tribalist and running a mafia-style youth
militia to attack colleagues - all charges levelled in recent weeks by the
opposing faction.

Sibanda denies calling for Ndebele
state

OPPOSITION Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) deputy leader
Gibson Sibanda did not call for an independent state for the
Ndebele-speaking people, party spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi has
said.

Nyathi said the story published in a local newspaper last week was
not only false but also a "reckless and dangerous propaganda attempt to use
tribalism as an instrument of political mobilisation".

"Not only
is this allegation untrue, it also appears to be a deliberate attempt by the
newspaper to fan ethnic tensions in the MDC and the country as a whole,"
Nyathi said.

"Zimbabweans do not want political leaders who play the
ethnic card to advance a parochial political agenda. Propaganda of this sort
will take Zimbabwe down the path of chaos, suffering and
misery."

The Daily Mirror last Tuesday carried a story, headlined
"Sibanda calls for Ndebele state", claiming the MDC deputy leader had at a
rally the previous week said: "Ndebeles can only exercise sovereignty
through creating their state (like) Lesotho, which is an independent state
in South Africa and it is not politically wrong to have the state of
Matabeleland inside Zimbabwe."

The MDC said the Daily Mirror story
was a "careless and irresponsible propaganda stunt premised on the flawed
assumption that the majority of Zimbabweans are gullible consumers of
calculated but transparent lies".

A senior MDC official said there
was no Mirror reporter at the MDC meeting in Nkayi where Sibanda allegedly
made the remarks.

"It was not a rally but a district meeting. There
was certainly no journalist there. The only strangers were police and CIO
officers who insisted on being present because the meeting had not been
cleared by the police," the official said.

"What happened was
that an MDC district member asked a question about problems in the party and
power devolution. Sibanda answered saying there was a need to resolve
problems in the party. On devolution, he simply quoted the MDC constitution
and interpreted that in Ndebele."

The MDC official said Sibanda read
out Article 3, Section 3.3 (b) of the MDC constitution, which says: "The MDC
shall seek the mandate of the people to govern the country and work for an
open democracy in which national government is accountable to the people
through the devolution of power and decision-making to the provinces and
local institutions and structures."

Another official said: "This is
what Sibanda said and not those fabricated remarks. I think the police or
CIO officers at the meeting gave the story to the Mirror. We have checked
with the paper, the story was not written by any of their journalists. It's
fiction."

A column in the government-controlled Herald written by an
anonymous author, Nathaniel Manheru but often ascribed to presidential
spokesman George Charamba, seized on the opportunity to lecture the paper's
readers on Ndebele history, while effectively in denial about the existence
of an Ndebele society in Zimbabwe.

The Herald recently published
a story claiming MDC official Victor Moyo had said opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai would not be allowed in Bulawayo because it was "Ndebele
territory". Moyo has dismissed the assertion as a fabrication. - Staff
Writer.

Mediagate hearings begin

Dumisani MuleyaTHE
Commercial Arbitration Centre will on Monday start hearings into the
suspension of the Zimbabwe Mirror Group of Newspapers CEO and
editor-in-chief Ibbo Mandaza.

Mandaza's lawyer Joseph Mandizha
confirmed yesterday November 21 has been set as the date of the start of the
hearing expected to look into a number of issues.

"The hearing
has been set for Monday next week at the Harare Club. It will look into the
propriety of Dr Mandaza's suspension and once you focus on that it
necessarily leads into whether those behind his suspension had the power to
do so and other related issues," Mandizha said.

The hearing will be
chaired by former chief justice Anthony Gubbay. Gubbay will be assisted by
former Institute of Chartered Accountants president, David Vincent, and
chairman of the Institute of Directors of Zimbabwe, Much
Masunda.

The hearing follows High Court judge Bharat Patel's
recommendation that a panel, chaired by a retired judge, be set up to hear
and determine the "propriety" of Mandaza's suspension.

Mandaza
was recently suspended from the Mirror by disputed group chair Jonathan
Kadzura and his deputy John Marangwanda in the wake of the disclosures about
the takeover of the Mirror titles, the Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror,
by the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) using public
funds.

Kadzura and Marangwanda said Mandaza's suspension had followed
a Ernst & Young forensic audit report, but did not specify the nature of
the report's findings.

Mandaza and two Mirror board members,
Ambassador Buzwani Mothobi and Amy Tsanga, have dismissed suggestions of any
wrongdoing on the part of the suspended Mirror boss.

Mandizha
said Gubbay would also look into the Mirror shareholding issue. The CIO
effectively controls 70% of the Mirror and Mandaza 30%.

Although the
CIO has approved a proposal which says Mandaza's equity has already been
taken over by themselves, Mandaza contests he is still legally a shareholder
until such a time when all issues in dispute have been sorted out. He also
argues he is still the guarantor of all company loans and
debts.

Mandaza has proposed an evaluation of the company so that
he can resell the 70% to the intelligence service and his own 30% to a
consortium of local tycoons waiting in the wings for the stake. However, the
CIO want to have Mandaza's 30% sold to their existing shelf companies which
are shareholders.

Zanu PF plotting against me to cover corruption -
Shoko

Zim Independent

Augustine MukaroCHITUNGWIZA mayor Misheck Shoko has accused Zanu PF
man of plotting his ouster from council to cover up their corruption. A loan
of over $2,5 billion for sewerage upgrading was abused, he says.

In
an interview with the Zimbabwe Independent this week, Shoko said the loan
was made available by the Reserve Bank in March to upgrade the collapsing
sewerage system in the St Mary's and Zengeza.

The money was
handed over to the then MP for Zengeza Christopher Chigumba but was not used
for its intended purpose when he lost the March parliamentary
election.

Shoko said when he asked what the sewerage loan was used
for, Local Government minister Ignatious Chombo started accusing him of
maladministration and failure to provide services.

"The situation
in Chitungwiza has become complicated because Zanu PF people want to cover
up their fraudulent activities by removing me from office," Shoko
said.

"Chigumba and other Zanu PF leaders abused the sewerage
upgrading loan money availed by RBZ. To clear myself, I have taken the case
to the police.

"Last week, council officials including the acting town
clerk were called for questioning by the police and it is just a question of
time before we see them getting arrested."

Shoko said Chigumba
was pushing for his ouster so that he could arm-twist council into
connecting water and sewerage to his housing cooperative.

"I turned
down Chigumba's application to connect water and sewerage to his Zano Remba
housing cooperative because the construction was not approved by the council
from the outset," Shoko said.

"Now he is under pressure from people
to complete the project."

Chigumba built more than 200 housing units in
the Unit L area, popularly known as Zano Remba Housing
Cooperative.

Some of the houses that were built under the same
initiative by the MP were demolished in the urban slum clearance blitz
launched by the government in May.

Shoko said the motive behind
appointing a district administrator, Godfrey Tanyanyiwa, was to frustrate
him into leaving council.

"I am still in charge of council affairs,"
Shoko said. "The appointment of the DA has nothing to do with council daily
operations. He was brought in to monitor our operations and facilitate where
we have difficulties."

Shoko said the Chitungwiza problems had
nothing to do with administration but the national economic crisis and
political interference from central government.

"Chitungwiza is
one of the few local authorities with the capacity to deal with sewerage and
refuse collection problems but the main stumbling block is the
unavailability of fuel and spares to keep our fleet on the road.

"We
have been paying for our fuel supplies but Zanu PF officials have been
blocking the deliveries to us. It's time to stop political mudslinging and
work with the reality."

Shoko dismissed claims by government that
it has given $5 billion to Chitungwiza saying that this was part of the debt
they were owed.

Chitungwiza has been experiencing water shortages for
the past two months due to rationing by the Zimbabwe National Water
Authority, while refuse is piling up as a result of the current fuel crisis
in the country.

Govt orders AG to stop handling land cases

Zim Independent

Godfrey
MarawanyikaGOVERNMENT has instructed the Attorney-General's office and the
Chief Magistrate's office to stop handling all pending land issues following
the gazetting of the Constitutional Amendment (No 17) Act.

Secretary
for Justice, David Mangota, issued the directive on September 28.

But
legal experts have said the directive is an example of government
interfering with the judiciary.

The instruction was given to
Attorney-General Sobusa Gula-Ndebele, Chief Magistrate Herbert Mandeya and
the senior administrative court president Andrew Mutema.

In the
circular issued to the trio, Mangota expressed concern why the courts were
still entertaining the land issues.

"The Constitution of Zimbabwe
Amendment (No 17) took away the courts' jurisdiction of hearing matters
which are related to the acquisition of land by the state," Mangota
said.

"The courts retained jurisdiction to hear and determine upon
matters which pertain to compensation for improvements only," he
said.

"Reports which reach my office seem to suggest that some of
your officers are still entertaining cases on matters which relate to the
acquisition of land. I should, in my view of the foregoing, be grateful if
you would kindly issue minutes clarifying the position on this matter to
your subordinates."

The amendment was passed in September. But it has
yet to be legally tested.

Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa said he
was not aware of the directive since Mangota had issued it.

"Talk
to Mangota. He is the one who wrote that circular so he knows
everything."

Mangota could not be reached for
comment.

The circular does not clarify how the issue of legal costs
will be addressed.

Law Society of Zimbabwe president Joseph James
differed with Mangota's circular on matters relating to land, saying they
could still be entertained by the courts.

"I do not share his
position," James said.

"Matters of jurisdiction are to be decided by
the courts, and not outside the courts. Just as it is right for one of the
litigants to raise the issue of lack of jurisdiction as a defence, it is
equally the right of one of the parties to advance his case, and explain why
the recent amendment cannot bar a court from hearing his
case."

James said a party might argue that the land in question is
not agricultural land.

"In any event, the constitutionality of
Amendment No 17 is still to be tested," he said.

"I assume that
judicial officers will exercise their judicial discretion and decide upon
the issue of jurisdiction on a case by case basis."

Farming problems mount

Zim Independent

Ray MatikinyeWHOEVER coined
the phrase "Land is the economy and the economy is the land" had the genius
of a lyricist to state the obvious but not enough of it to foretell the
damage that would unravel the economy because of government's twisted
agrarian policies.

"Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and will
anchor the country's economic transformation," Economic Development
minister, Rugare Gumbo, said on Wednesday at a pre-budget consultative
dialogue in Harare. "The 2006 national budget should therefore focus on
increasing production."

But a series of policy shifts involving
powerful bureaucrats have converged to worsen agricultural problems for an
already weakened economy, a parliamentary portfolio committee report on the
state of agriculture in Zimbabwe reveals.

Stakeholders in the
agricultural sector bemoan the steady decline in agricultural production in
the past five years due to a number of factors, chief among them a severe
shortage of foreign currency, fuel and sub-economic producer
prices.

The net effect of these constrictions to the sector,
according to the report, is that crop yields will be reduced considerably if
something is not done immediately.

Politicians have tended to
apply gloss to the sector and even exaggerated production figures to mask
the reality of a failed land appropriation programme.

For
instance, while seed producers project a 20 000-tonne shortfall in seed
requirements which need to be imported at a cost of US$35 million, Ministry
of Agriculture officials claim there is enough seed to cater for the summer
crop.

"The information about the availability of inputs for the
summer crop is quite confusing," the parliamentary committee
said.

"Such conflicting situations will have serious ramifications on
planning and production." Seed houses need foreign currency to import spares
to refurbish machinery and bolster capacity to meet demand. Their efforts to
secure hard currency on the auction floors have been
unsuccessful.

That is not all.

Fertiliser companies have
failed to secure foreign currency to import potash and ammonia needed for
production.

The report says companies complained that they had to
scale down operations at a critical time, considering the crucial role their
product plays in agriculture. One company had to close its plant in Msasa
owing to failure to secure foreign currency, while those operating had to
resort to producing non-potash fertiliser that compromises
yields.

A proposed programme which entailed setting up production
targets for strategic crops has failed to attract takers.

In a
bid to meet basic minimum production requirements, government came up with
an ambitious target-oriented model dubbed "Command Agriculture", where each
of the 10 provinces would select 200 farmers apiece to participate in the
scheme.

The farmers were expected to produce food security crops,
livestock, and industrial and export crops over a targeted 1,9 million
hectares with a projected production of 8,5 million tonnes of various crops
at an estimated cost of $14, 7 trillion.

Treasury could not
bankroll the project, while farmers and other stakeholders said they were
ignorant of the Command Agriculture model, neither were they consulted on
the issue.

"The gap between government-set targets and the available
stock of inputs points to a serious lack of planning by government
bureaucrats," the report says.

More importantly, a total of 33
firms, or about a fifth of Zimbabwe's export companies, have closed shop
during the first six months of the year due to the economic crisis and land
seizures, according to a government agency.

Of these, 12 agricultural
firms stopped operating after their farms were acquired by the government
under the land reform programme, the Export Processing Zone Authority of
Zimbabwe said in a recent report.

"Twelve companies stopped
operations after the farms they were operating on were taken for
redistribution. An additional 12 companies have closed shop citing, among
other things, unfavourable foreign exchange rate and loss of international
markets as Zimbabwe is considered a risk country to do business with," said
the report.

The company closures resulted in a loss of export revenue
totalling about $17,6 million, according to the report.

Close to
7 000 jobs were lost due to the closures in the export sector, which employs
26 000 people.

RBZ agricultural policy backfires

Zim Independent

AN ambitious
plan by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) to prop up declining agricultural
production by doling out billions of dollars for the sector has backfired,
forcing the central bank to garnish the Ministry of Agriculture to recover
the funds.

The RBZ has garnished the ministry for funds advanced to
government to finance an agricultural input programme at the launch of the
land reform five years ago.

In the past four years government has
poured nearly $118 billion into agriculture to boost
production.

The central bank splashed out billions of additional
dollars in a vain effort to ensure its widely-condemned land appropriation
programme was a success.

Ministry of Agriculture officials
informed a parliamentary portfolio committee on agricultural preparedness a
fortnight ago that the action taken by the central bank to foreclose on the
loan funds had never been explained at the onset of the
programme.

Officials in the ministry told the committee that the
agricultural input programme was not explained to the farmers, most of whom
mistook the credit scheme for government largesse.

The committee
said government needs to educate resettled farmers on the input scheme and
inculcate in them a culture of self-reliance.

Failure by the ministry
to repay funds has forced RBZ to stop allocating fresh funds for the 2005
agricultural season, at a time when there is a severe shortage of
fertilisers, seed and fuel to run tillage units.

The central bank has
advised the ministry to raise money from the open market where interest
rates have soared to 300% due to inflationary pressure.

The
committee said farmers were now reluctant to borrow from yet another scheme,
the Agricultural Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility citing fears of
sinking deeper into debt.

The RBZ initially charged 5% interest on
loans under the scheme but reviewed the rates to 20% midstream. - Staff
Writer.

Zim faces grilling in Gambia over rights
abuses

Zim Independent

Augustine MukaroTHE Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum has released a
damning report on how government failed to comply with the African
Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights (ACHPR) recommendations to stop
widespread human rights violations in the country.

The report
coincides with the African Commission meeting in Banjul, Gambia, next week,
which is expected to discuss the human rights situation in
Zimbabwe.

An ACHPR fact-finding mission which visited the country
in June 2002 concluded that there was enough evidence of human rights
violations in Zimbabwe and that government could not wash its hands of
responsibility for all the incidents.

The mission, which was led
by the vice-chairperson of the commission, Jainaba Johm, recommended that
Zimbabwe engages mediators to resume dialogue, repeal inhibitive
legislations, ensure independence of the judiciary, avoid politicisation of
the police and promote a climate conducive to freedom of
expression.

The ACHPR report was adopted by the African Commission in
January this year.

The NGO Forum then undertook an audit of the
recommendations to monitor government's compliance. Its report, titled Facts
and Fictions, exposes unwillingness by government and its agencies to comply
with the recommendations, especially on national dialogue and
reconciliation.

The report says it is manifestly evident that instead
of attempting to implement the recommendations of the fact finding mission
of June 2002 in order to create an environment conducive to freedom of
expression in Zimbabwe, the government has strengthened repressive laws and
taken action that has had exactly the opposite effect.

The report
says even after publication of the ACHPR report, government has failed to
implement recommendations on the independence of the judiciary and
enforcement of court rulings.

"There have been five high-profile
cases in which various arms of government, including the executive, three
ministries, a statutory body, local authorities and the police, have failed
to comply with court orders," the report says.

"This
non-compliance reflects a continuing trend by government and state
institutions of failing to effect rulings by the judiciary, thus reinforcing
the perception of a continuing breakdown of the rule of law, failure to
respect the principle of separation of powers, and the impunity of state
institutions."

The five cases include government's rejection of
an Electoral Court ruling nullifying the results of the nomination court for
the Chimanimani constituency in which the judge said the presiding officer
had unlawfully refused to accept the nomination papers for Roy Bennett.
Elections for the constituency were postponed pending fresh nominations, a
move which was denounced by President Mugabe.

"The president of
Zimbabwe attacked the decision of the court at a public briefing with
provincial, government and party leaders at Gaza High School in Chipinge,
describing it as "absolute nonsense" and said it should be
ignored.

The Forum says government has taken no steps to repeal
or amend national laws which are repressive.

"Aippa remains
operational and continues to be implemented in a selective manner to stifle
the free dissemination of information and free speech within Zimbabwe,
especially through the private media," the report says.

The
Constitutional Amendment (No 17) Act passed recently makes wide-ranging
intrusions into basic human rights guaranteed under the constitution of
Zimbabwe, as well as various international human rights instruments to which
Zimbabwe is a state party, it said.

The Forum report comes at a
time when government faces a grilling at the African Commission meeting in
Gambia next week where civic organisations will present a shadow human
rights report exposing rampant and deliberate rights violations perpetrated
by government over the past five years.

Zimbabwe, which last
presented a human rights report to the commission in 1996, decided to do so
again nine years later, in a move civic groups described as a desperate
attempt to defuse mounting pressure and growing isolation. The ACHPR
requires governments to submit reports to the commission
bi-annually.

The government report glosses over critical issues which
plunged the country into the current economic morass and fails to
acknowledge the current economic recession. It skates around virtually all
the negative incidents that the country went through, including the violence
that accompanied the land reform programme and all the three elections held
over the past five years. The government report is also silent on the
widely-condemned Operation Murambatsvina which left over 700 000 people
homeless and without sources of livelihood. Government mentions in passing
Operation Garikai without giving any background as to why it had to embark
on the nationwide housing construction programme.

It
highlights numerous challenges that Zimbabwe has faced since the last state
report to the commission of 1996, including political and economic
instability since 2000, the involvement of state security agents in most of
the violent activities since the formation of the opposition MDC and the
banning of newspapers.

"Approximately 300 people have died as a
result of political and land-invasion related violence and rapes, assaults,
kidnappings and torture have occurred throughout the period," the report
says.

The perpetrators of these crimes have been identified mainly as
state agents including the army, police and the central intelligence
organisation as well as ruling party militia and opposition party
supporters.

Cry for food, get computer

Zim Independent

Editor's Memo

Vincent KahiyaPRESIDENT
Mugabe was in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, this week to attend the World
Summit on Information Society (WSIS). It is one of those bland events where
leaders spend hours discussing ideals and not achievables. For our dear
leader, though, any platform to display political machismo is grabbed with
both hands.

Sometimes it is good to have President Mugabe at such talk-
shops because his animated speeches usually stand out - not necessarily for
positive reasons but mainly as a departure from the mostly banal
interventions of other world leaders who manage to stay
awake.

This is the sort of summit where heads of state usually offer
generic contributions, all pointing to the fact that the great potential of
Internet technology should spread to the developing world. President Mugabe
offers a bit of fun and his salvos against unmissable targets Blair and Bush
offer useful insights which are sometimes lost in the adulation of fawning
state media and the Mugabe fan club in the third world.

I recall
one such useful observation by President Mugabe at a plenary session of the
WSIS in Geneva, Switzerland, two years ago. Part of the presidential address
included this passage which I will quote unabridged:

'Long after we
have talked about the need for information and communication technologies as
tools with which to contrive the information society, we are soon to
discover that receivers and computers are powered by electricity which is
unavailable in a typical third world village. Long after we have talked
about connectivity, we are soon to discover that most platforms for
electronic communication need basic telecommunication infrastructure which
does not exist in a typical African village.

"What is worse, we
will discover, much to our dismay, that the poor villager we wish to turn
into a fitting citizen for our information society is in many instances
unable to read and write. Where we are lucky to find the villager literate
and numerate, we soon discover that he or she is not looking for a computer
terminal but for a morsel of food; an antibiotic to save his dying child; a
piece of land on which to eke out an existence; in short, looking for a
humane society that guarantees him food, health, shelter and
education.

"Zimbabwe's own ICT efforts have thus been directed at
developing Zimbabwe's society as a whole in areas of education, health where
the HIV/Aids pandemic remains a problem in both elementary and advanced
skills development, as indeed in building a high-level awareness of the
people's basic rights."

This was well put. But it is important to
also remind readers that a year after President Mugabe made this
all-important observation, he embarked on a campaign trail for the 2005
general election during which he donated hundreds of computers to rural
schools which did not have books, chairs and desks, let alone electricity
and a telephone.

The children who were made to cheer the computer
donations did not have three square meals a day. As the president donated
computers, there were no drugs at rural clinics and ambulances were grounded
due to a shortage of either spare parts or fuel - sometimes
both.

To use the wise words from the president, the child who sat for
the whole day in the sun waiting for his arrival was not looking for a
computer terminal but for morsels of food and for a "humane society that
guarantees him food, health, shelter and education". How cruel can the world
be? Children crying every morning for food get computers
instead.

It is trite that the computer donation blitz was President
Mugabe's pet project. Remember this statement in March when he donated
computers in Highfield?

"It is a personal initiative that I
embarked on and I have been assisted by several well-wishers like Reserve
Bank governor Gideon Gono." That's humane?

Whatever the intention
was, the nation is yet to reap the benefits of the donations. We now hear
press reports of the computers being stolen, that there are no qualified
teachers to train kids on how to use the machines and there is no software
to load onto the computers.

Meanwhile the rural kids are as hungry as
ever and the digital divide continues to widen. This is not surprising
because the digital divide can never be bridged through half-hearted
measures like our mode of computer donations. As for shelter, the
destructive trail of Operation Murambatsvina will be with us for a long
time.

It is a truism that developing countries with the greatest
Internet access have high rates of literacy, education, political freedom
and service-based economies - as well as technology infrastructure. Zimbabwe
is lacking immensely on the latter three aspects.

This is the
reason Zimbabwe cannot be called a mature democracy by the simple act of
setting up the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission or establishing an upper house
of parliament. This approach is simply orderly autocracy via piecemeal
institutional modification. We await the package from Tunis.

Gono last week summoned
ZC chairman Peter Chingoka and managing director Ozias Bvute to explain how
the union has repatriated the foreign currency earned from television rights
as well as lucrative sponsorship deals.

The Reserve Bank of
Zimbabwe's Financial Intelligence, Inspectorate and Evaluation Unit raided
ZC offices last Thursday and searched for hard cash before picking up
Chingoka and Bvute for questioning.

Chingoka yesterday said they were
cooperating with the RBZ investigators.

"We have had some very
constructive meetings with RBZ officials," Chingoka said. "ZC will continue
to cooperate fully with the RBZ officials as they guide us in ensuring
compliance with their requirements."

Although Chingoka could not shed
light on the investigations, Gono reportedly descended on ZC after
disgruntled provincial chairmen compiled a dossier suggesting shady
financial transactions at the cricket body.

Bvute confirmed their
discussions with the RBZ unit centred on the allegations raised by the
chairmen, but could not get into the details.

"We've not been
arrested. We held a meeting to clarify issues and get guidance from the
exchange control authorities," Bvute said.

The RBZ yesterday also
refused to discuss the probe but did not deny summoning the ZC
officials.

"It is not our practice as a central bank to disclose
whether interactions with Zimbabwe Cricket are of a consultative,
investigative or of a social nature," RBZ spokesman Kumbirai Nhongo told the
Zimbabwe Independent.

"However, we wish to advise that apart from the
supervision and surveillance of banks, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe has an
arm that looks into the economic behaviours of various
players."

The provincial cricket chairmen in their dossier wanted to
know how ZC was repatriating its forex from offshore accounts. They also
wanted to know whether Chingoka had repatriated a £50 000 honorarium he was
paid last year "according to exchange control regulations".

The
dossier also queried rumours that a female ZC employee had allegedly
disappeared with US$75 000, raising suspicions the union might have been
stashing hard cash at its offices in contravention of Zimbabwe's tough
exchange control regulations.

Chingoka dismissed the allegations
as "financial mudslinging (that) appears to be the final strategy in the
anti-ZC destabilisation campaign". He however said he was ready for an
audit.

However, indications late yesterday were that ZC would once
again fail to convene a board meeting scheduled for tomorrow where Chingoka
intended to respond to the chairmen's concerns.

"We have not
received favourable responses to our desire to hold a meeting tomorrow,"
Bvute said. "We have not shied away from answering their queries."

Latest satellite TV technology comes to Zim

Zim Independent

ONE of
the biggest technological developments in satellite television in recent
years has come to Zimbabwe, and is poised to revolutionise the way viewers
enjoy their digital satellite television (DStv) experience.

As a first
for Africa, the personal video recorder (PRV) has been launched in Zimbabwe
and other countries across the continent, offering a wide range of
additional services to DStv viewers and creating a hi-tech means of
enhancing television viewing. Also known as a digital dual-view video
recorder or digital personal video recorder, the new device replaces exiting
single-view and dual-view decoders and facilitates recording of television
programmes to a hard disk in digital format.

Said Multi-Choice
Zimbabwe marketing manager, Kirsty Brien: "The PVR has been internationally
successful and has just been released to wide acclaim in South Africa. Its
release in Zimbabwe and the rest of Africa is likely to be equally
well-received by DStv viewers and will greatly enhance their enjoyment of
the DStv experience."

As with the dual view decoders, viewers will be
able to watch two channels simultaneously in two environments, but with PVR
they will at the same time be able to record from either of the two channels
being watched or from a third channel. The PVR also records up to 80 hours
of programming to its hard drive and enables viewers to pause live
television and return to where they left off when they restart. Instant
replays will be possible, a superb feature for sports programmes in
particular while for recorded content features include fast forward pause
rewind and slow motion.

Using the electronic programme guide, viewers
can set recording dates and times in advance, which, for example, makes it
possible to record a series of programmes in sequence over a period of time.
Bookmarks can be activated, so that in a recorded programme viewers can
later return to the same spot at which viewing stopped or they an revisit a
favoured part or sequence. Old format VCRs are made redundant by the radial
new smart technology and user-friendliness of the PVR, which can record
programmes to the exact second of start and finish.

The PVR helps
the television equipment 'to think', enabling viewers to gain enormous
benefits from having access to more than 50 TV channels on the DStv
bouquet," said Brien.

"The PVR will be sold in Zimbabwe by DAE
Communications and through the MultiChoice accredited installers network,
with the essential back-up of after-sales service from qualified and
authorised technicians."

Brien added that the new PVR will be above
$60 million.

The PVRs are based on the latest international
technology and have been developed by Multichoice Africa and its technical
partner UEC of South Africa.

The PVR unit comes with a unique new
multi-functional remote control device that can also be used to control
television sets and home theatre or music systems. - Own Correspondent.

Govt moots indigenisation law

Zim Independent

Godfrey
MarawanyikaGOVERNMENT is contemplating an Empowerment Act that will make it
mandatory for companies that are either winding up their operations or
merging to ensure 50% of the shares go to indigenous
entrepreneurs.

The Act will compel companies to give 50% of their tenders
for services or the supply of goods to indigenous companies. For instance, a
mining company will be required to buy 50% of its supplies from
indigenous-owned companies.

The same will apply to out-sourced
services such as security or auditing.

In a document titled Revised
Policy Framework for Indigenisation of the Economy, drawn up by the
Department of Indigenisation and Empowerment, there will be need to amend
current legislation that impedes indigenisation efforts.

"The
legislation should direct all companies and individuals to do business with
a minimum of 50% of indigenous entities in respect of service provided and
goods supplied," reads the document.

The Act will also make it
mandatory for government to allocate a 50% stake to indigenous groups when
it commercialises or privatises state companies.

"Government itself
should arrange to secure or procure 75% of its goods and services from
indigenous firms," it says. "For example, government should be expected to
deal with indigenous banks, engage indigenous accounting firms,
etc."

The policy document was signed by the late Minister of
State for Indigenisation and Empowerment, Josiah Tungamirai.

The
document cites the Liquor Licensing Act, the Mines and Minerals Act, Income
Tax Act, Manpower Planning and Development Act, Urban Councils Act, Shop
Licences Act and the Banking Act among pieces of legislation that that need
to be re-examined to speed up black economic empowerment.

"When
making adjustments to the above legislation, care should be exercised to
ensure continued competitiveness, productivity and therefore viability of
both the new and existing companies," says the document.

Zimbabwe has
had numerous pressure groups since independence agitating for the
empowerment of previously disadvantaged Zimbabweans.

The Affirmative
Action Group shot to prominence in the early 1990s led by Phillip Chiyangwa
to facilitate the entry of black Zimbabweans into the mainstream
economy.

Before that there was the Indigenous Business Development
Centre, once led by businessman Ben Mucheche.

There is also the
Indigenous Business Women's Organisation (IBWO) led by Jane
Mutasa.

The common thread among all the groups was on the need for
clear government guidelines and a legal framework on how to achieve their
objectives.

Analysts are already advising caution, fearing that the
proposed empowerment schemes would be done along political lines as happened
with the current land reform that has turned out to be a poisoned chalice
for its authors.

"Although on paper it's a good suggestion, some
people will be awarded contracts on the basis of party affiliation as has
happened in the past. That is how Mutumwa Mawere purchased Shabanie Mashaba
Mines through a government guarantee," an analyst said.

"But now
that his relations with government have soured his SMM is under virtual
government control. The partnerships only work for a certain period of time
to achieve a good political image."

The government is also proposing
an Empowerment Charter to ensure transparency in the award of the contracts
to indigenous entrepreneurs.

The Charter will provide a framework for the
empowerment of "historically disadvantaged Zimbabweans".

The Act
seeks to assist indigenous entrepreneurs by offering economic incentives
like tax concessions to those companies which give contracts to indigenous
businesses.

Empowerment history

Zim Independent

THE history of empowerment in
Zimbabwe is littered with examples of failure. Where they have sailed
through, the empowerment deals have created elites who became super-rich at
the expense of the majority. These skewed policies have served to confuse
investors.

For example there is confusion in the mining sector as to how
much should be allocated to indigenous groups in mining ventures. While
President Robert Mugabe insists that local business people must be given 50%
in mining ventures, the Finance minister, Herbert Murerwa, is on record
saying that 30% should be set aside for locals.

However, the
National Investment Centre (NIC) has a 40% figure on its website and
pamphlets marketing Zimbabwe as an investment destination. Since the
government proposal, last year, that locals should hold at least a 15%
empowerment stake in all mining concerns, no indigenous consortium has
successfully acquired any stake.

Zimplats has offered a 15%
empowerment stake to Nkululeko Rusununguko Mining Company (NRMC), a local
consortium which has however failed to pay for the shareholding. Anglo
American Corporation Zimbabwe (AmZim) is also offering a 15-20% empowerment
stake in its billion-dollar Unki Platinum Project but the company has not
come up with an empowerment partner for more than a year now.

The
land reform, which government cites as the hallmark of its economic
empowerment, has become a national disaster. Production has slumped to the
lowest levels. Before that United Merchant Bank headed by the late
empowerment guru Roger Boka collapsed due to serious financial
improprieties.

Locally-owned banks like Trust, Royal and Barbican
have since been taken over by government. Government is currently finalising
the take-over of Shabani Mashava Mine (SMM) which is owned by Mutumwa
Mawere. - Staff Writer.

Sweden to increase aid to Zim, but nothing for Operation
Garikai

Zim Independent

Itai MushekweSWEDEN will next year increase its humanitarian
assistance to Zimbabwe by over US$2 million, but none of this aid will go
towards government's housing project Operation Garikai/ Hlalani
Kuhle.

Operation Garikai is largely seen as a cosmetic project which
President Robert Mugabe undertook to cover up the destruction caused by the
widely-condemned Operation Murambatsvina which robbed over 700 000 people of
their shelters and sources of livelihood.

Göran Engstrand,
Minister for Development Co-operation at the Embassy of Sweden in Harare,
revealed the aid package during a tour of the Swedish International
Development Agency (Sida)-funded child rights projects in Murehwa last
week.

Sida earlier this year approved 20 million Swedish kroner to
fund development projects in Zimbabwe.

"Admittedly, most of the
allocation will be targeted at those affected by the recent Operation
Murambatsvina through NGOs and multilateral agencies," said Engstrand. We
will also not lose sight of some of the ongoing work benefiting over two
million children throughout Zimbabwe.

"Consequently, some of the
support will boost the support already received by organisations dealing
with child rights such as Sahrit, the Scripture Union and the Farm Orphan
Support Trust," he said.

Engstrand refuted recent claims by state
media that "Sweden was also looking at how best it would assist in Operation
Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle Phase Two (housing programme) that government
launched".

"This is not correct. The correct position is that we will
continue working with NGOs and other multilateral agencies to alleviate the
plight of those affected by Operation Murambatsvina," said
Engstrand.

Sweden's humanitarian support is funnelled through
multilateral agencies and non-governmental organisations.

Last
month Japan chipped in with a 150 million yen (US$1,3 million) aid package
for the purchase of 3 600 tonnes of maize to help Zimbabweans affected by
food shortages.

Sweden's refusal to support Operation Garikai comes
on the back of United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan's criticism of
President Mugabe for rejecting international aid to help thousands of people
facing starvation and homelessness.

The plight of the homeless is
set to worsen with the onset of the rainy season. The slum clearance
exercise that began in May left many informal settlers in the cold during
winter.

Government is trapped in a Catch-22 situation as Operation
Garikai struggles to complete 200 000 housing units countrywide with few
resources on the ground. This seems to suggest it will fail to meet the
December target it set itself.

Business leaders lash out at govt

Zim Independent

Godfrey
MarawanyikaBUSINESS leaders this week bared their teeth and snarled at
government's economic policy confusion at a pre-budget conference held on
Wednesday.

For the first time, business leaders stopped their
double-speak and praise-singing to launch a scathing attack on government
for destroying the economy. Zimbabwe's business leaders are well known for
singing praise to the government in public while attacking its policies in
private. Some chief executives have complained to newspapers, especially the
Independent, for quoting them criticising the government and the Reserve
Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ).

There is often a wave of fear among
business leaders who ironically feel the heat of the economic problems as
they battle to keep their companies afloat. But on Wednesday that
prevarication was gone.

With rare but brutal frankness the business
leaders took off their gloves and lambasted the government at a pre-budget
seminar organised by the National Economic Consultative Forum
(NECF.)

Former president of Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries
Kumbirai Katsande said Zimbabweans were their own worst enemies. "As we sit
right here I do not hear any senior government official condemning the farm
invasions which are taking place across the country. Maybe only with the
exception of Gideon Gono.

"It's criminal when we do not do what
we are supposed to do," Katsande said.

The meeting was attended by
Economic Development minister Rugare Gumbo, Finance minister Herbert
Murerwa, two permanent secretaries, Andrew Bvumbe and George Mlilo, and
other senior government officials.

Deputy Finance minister David Chapfika
also attended the meeting.

Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce
(ZNCC) president Luxon Zembe said real patriots should go beyond party
politics.

He implored government to take decisive action on the visa
requirements on Zimbabweans by the South African government.

"A
government messenger does not need a visa to go to South Africa, but Joe
Mtizwa, the chief executive officer of our very own conglomerate, would have
to go and queue for a visa at the South African embassy," Zembe
said.

Zembe also questioned why government was afraid of liberalising
the economy and restoring international relations. "Truly patriotic people
are not Zanu PF or MDC but the question is whether Zanu PF people are
patriotic as they claim to be?"

Concerns were also raised over
the sorry state of the agriculture sector at a time when the RBZ had poured
trillions of dollars into the sector. NECF chairman Robbie Mupawose said he
was worried that government had failed to announce producer prices
early.

"We are now in November and the central bank governor has put
in trillions of dollars to finance the agriculture sector but we are still
to see the deliverables," Mupawose said.

"Command agriculture
does not solve our problems. Command systems do not solve anything. We are
in serious problems. I don't know why we hide from some of these basic
facts."

Under siege from the executives Murerwa could only say he
"had tried to identify some of the critical challenges that require
attention through the national budget".

"Price distortions are currently constraining the budget as
well as adversely affecting the operations of most public enterprises. It
will be necessary that we remove all price distortions and target subsidies
to vulnerable groups."

Gumbo however maintained government's
defensive stance, reminding the delegates that the country was under
sanctions.

"We are under siege of targeted sanctions," said Gumbo,
parroting the self-serving government line.

"Let's not be
simplistic about these things and move beyond these text book materials. We
are operating under extremely difficult conditions."

But Mupawose was
not intimidated.

"I often question what we are doing about these
sanctions," he said. "Surely, sanctions can be circumvented. We are
suffering from the consequences of our own actions," he said. Despite the
tense atmosphere, the meeting also had its lighter moments.

Black
empowerment activist Keith Guzah said it was necessary for business leaders
to be enrolled for National Youth Service programmes.

"Maybe we need
a Border Gezi adult literacy programme because of lack of patriotism amongst
some of our business leaders," he said.

Former Finance minister Simba
Makoni advised both government and the business leaders to have clarity of
policies.

"Even if Zimbabwe is looking east, whilst east is looking
west, there is need for clarity in our policies," Makoni
said.

"Today we are for individual enterprise, and tomorrow we are
for collective enterprise. We all know what has to be
addressed."

60% govt agric funds disappear

Zim Independent

Godfrey
MarawanyikaABOUT 60% of the funds government allocated to the agricultural
sector disappeared before they reached the farmers, a parliamentary report
has said. The report, compiled by the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on
Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, revealed that about $70,8 billion of
the $118 billon that government had set aside to fund the agricultural
inputs cannot be accounted for.

The report follows the committee's
July fact-finding mission on the State of Preparedness by the Agricultural
Sector for the 2005/2006 summer crop.

According to the report,
between 2000 and 2005 the government has availed $118 billion to finance the
agricultural sector. "Farmers representatives also alleged that only 40% of
funds availed by the government to the agriculture sector reached farmers on
the ground," the report said.

"As a result, the funding channelled to
agriculture for the last five years has not made any significant impact on
turning around the fortunes of the sector. Stakeholders are urged to revise
its financing strategies and come up with appropriate and comprehensive
financing models in order to achieve desired results."

The
committee chaired by Walter Mzembi, the MP for Masvingo South, said the
current summer season was no better than previous seasons due to limited
stocks of inputs and foreign currency shortages.

The committee
found that lack of a clear financing models, coupled with the late release
of funds and bottlenecks experienced by farmers at lending institutions were
a major hindrance to full agricultural recovery.

The central bank has
since come up with a successor facility to the Productive Sector Facility
(PSF) known as the Agricultural Sector Productivity Enhancement Facility
(ASPEF).

"They (farmers) said they would sink
deeper into debt as they were already reeling under the 50% interest rate,"
the report said.

"This financing model was a short-term measure with
a repayment period put at six months. As a result, those farmers that
ventured into 12-month cycle crops could not pay back the loans at the
stipulated time. At the expiry of the repayment period, the RBZ immediately
applied commercial interest rates of 300% to loans drawn from the
PSF."

The committee received oral evidence from Ministry of
Agriculture permanent secretary, Simon Pazvakavambwa, and Stuart Hargreaves,
principal director for livestock and veterinary services.

Zesa in wanton destruction of trees

Zim Independent

I HAVE the
daily heartbreak of driving along Lomagundi Road where, in the past few
weeks, over 70 trees have been cut down in the 2km between Harare Drive and
the cattle pens.

I eventually established that it was the Zimbabwe
Electricity Supply Authority doing the damage but the manager of Zesa
Westgate was very quick to quote me the regulations: "No trees within 6,5
metres of a power line."

Despite my protestations, it would appear
irrelevant that none of them actually touched the power line or were even
likely to do it in the next 10 years. They must come down en masse, thereby
creating a dreadful impression of wanton destruction to those few foreign
visitors that we have travelling to Kariba.

I have a few
questions for Zesa:

Why, if you are so concerned about branches
touching the cables and the potential threat to power supply, have you not
cut down the only thing that does touch them, the very large bougainvillea,
500 metres after the Westgate roundabout, into which the cable disappears on
one side only to re-emerge on the other?

Could it be that it is
much more difficult and thorny for comfort and doesn't have the side benefit
of free timber afterwards? You have cut down everything else for at least a
kilometre before and after this bush!

Why are you so concerned about
"regulations" concerning overhead power cables, when you completely ignore
those regulations regarding demarcating and protecting the public from the
gaping holes you leave on the verges of roads when you do "temporary
repairs"?

There are three within 100 metres of my flat in Kensington.
Two have been there for over a year now and the third was dug five weeks
ago.

Your workmen managed to erect four "branches" that could only be
described as twigs, around which they wrapped some red tape. This pathetic
effort lasted less than 24 hours before everything fell over and the hole is
now completely unprotected just like the other two.

The danger to
the public and the potential for being sued for negligence must surely
increase dramatically once the rains come.

Why does Zesa not
prioritise the jobs it has to do, and employ some common sense at the same
time?

Dell criticism exposes Mugabe

AS a Zimbabwean, I'm
not sure when the government will threaten to expel me. Unlike United States
ambassador to Zimbabwe, Christopher Dell, I have no other home. But speak I
shall.

The threats to expel Dell show the duplicity that characterises
the Zanu PF leadership, especially President Robert Mugabe.

The
reaction to Dell's criticism exposes Mugabe's hypocrisy. He is allowed to
say all sorts of things against others - George Bush and Tony Blair, for
example - but he feels offended when others express their views about him or
his government.

Mugabe is old enough to be my grandfather, but
I'm sure when someone criticises me or speaks negatively of me, I would not
react in such a deceptive way. I must say Mugabe has really gone bananas
with age.

He naively believes attacking Bush and Blair will gain him
international support and recognition in other countries. I remember him
proudly telling the CNN that he is popular among the masses in South Africa
and Africa in general. This is the foolhardiness of an old
man.

Okay, does his popularity bring petrol home?

If other
leaders praise him for his outbursts, he should know that they now consider
him a political tool when it comes to international politics. They are using
him to advance their cause because they are intelligent enough to know that
if they say the wrong things against world powers, their economies and
people would suffer.

Mugabe should just shut up. He can't keep
insulting young and admirable - many Zimbabweans admire Bush and Blair - men
who do not even respond to his hypocritic speeches.

Have you
forgotten the saying "never argue with a mad man, people may not notice the
difference"? That's what Blair and Bush are always telling themselves after
his speeches.

By the way, Mr Mugabe, please stop calling us your
people because we don't belong to you.

The real saboteurs

Zim Independent

IT is interesting to note that
the government talks of sabotage when ills besetting Zimbabwe squarely lie
with them. Take for example the shortage of staple maize in the country. Is
it an issue of poor planning or drought?

The white farmers foresaw the
impending drought of 1992 and resorted to irrigation of early maize fields -
only to be described a decade later by Agriculture minister Joseph Made as
saboteurs and racists who wanted to resist the land reform.

Right
now an enterprise of growing maize for sale to the Grain Marketing Board
(GMB) is a farce (Zimbabwe Independent, October 14). Maize needs heavy
topdressing but the commodity is not there.

What will happen to
the yield then? The floor price being offered by GMB cannot cover even
transport costs. Yet drought is blamed.

The people in Vice-President
Joice Mujuru's constituency face starvation.

To make matters worse,
the government is adding another burden by introducing a senate. Payment for
the mujibhas is due in January. The next move will be the payment of the
chiefs in foreign currency to enable them to buy fuel!

Price changed . . . on way to the til

JUST
thought I should share a crazy scene with you and anyone else bothered to
read this.

On October 28, my wife and I went to Five Avenue Spar
(Athienitis) to buy a couple of things on our way home. Among the few things
were a few slices of honey-glazed ham.

The ham was priced at $500
000/kg and the slices we got were worth $220 000. At the till, I noticed the
total for all the goods was more than I had anticipated. On double-checking
I saw that the ham was now worth $308 000.

I asked the till operator
how this could be, when the price on the pack was clearly marked $220 000.
She then said: "The price probably went up while you were walking to the
till."

I know things are far from good in Zimbabwe, but that was the
most absurd excuse I have ever heard for daylight robbery. She called a
supervisor who at first started by basically saying there was nothing he
could do. Pressed further he said it was such a process to change the price
that we were going to be there for a long time.

He then tried to
take off with the ham - I suspect to re-pack it - to which I refused. He was
suggesting he needed the whole pack to change the price and I was
maintaining he only needed the price tag. Seeing I was not budging he then
took the tag, and hey presto he was back in all of four minutes.

Like
I said, things are far from good in Zimbabwe, but is it possible for a price
to change during the couple of minutes it takes to walk from the deli to the
till or these shops are just putting different prices on the shelf to those
they are charging at the till? If you do not double-check each and every
item you will get ripped off!

Chinese farmers clueless

RECENTLY I drove to
Mazvikadei Dam, situated just north of Banket. To my horror, vast tracks of
once wooded lands had been stumped clean by Chinese atop
bulldozers.

Why this entire bush-clearing while acres upon acres of
cleared land remain unused? The latter being after all the very best lands,
once upon a time farmed commercially and denied to the
people.

Through your paper, I ask the following
questions:

* If no diesel is available to plough and harvest
liberated land, why are we allowing the use of this precious liquid to open
more unnecessary land?

* If no diesel is available to ferry coal from
Hwange for tobacco curing, why are the Chinese burning all these thousands
of stumped trees of many years? One of these stumped trees would suffice a
Zimbabwean family a whole week to cook its food.

* If previously
farmers chose not to cultivate these areas, could it be that they had deemed
these soils not desirable to culture?

* Having undermined our
country's commercial traders, are these very Chinese now going to be left to
do the same to our agricultural sector?

* Could both the relevant
ministers of Agriculture and Environment please enlighten the nation on this
costly and unnecessary destruction?

Fight within MDC has turned too
personal

Zim Independent

THE fight between the two MDC factions over participation in
the forthcoming senatorial election is no longer over principles. The fight
has just turned too personal, much to the marvel of Zanu PF, which is
enjoying the mudslinging by people who should be fighting for entrenchment
of democratic values in Zimbabwe.

We have read in the state media
about factions belonging to the so-called "academics" and the so-called
"trade unionists" and we thought it was all propaganda but it seems that the
truth is out for all to see.

We have Job Sikhala calling the party
president a "goblin" and saying "mai vako" to whoever wants to remove him
from the party. Those words are not words of principle but words of anger
and dislike to a person who should be your leader.

On the other
hand, we hear of Isaac Matongo accusing the pro-senate camp of trying to
"murder" the party president during Morgan Tsvangirai's treason trial last
year. This is not entirely true because Tsvangirai himself was careless in
putting trust in everybody he met and claimed to believe in his vision and
that of the MDC.

Paul Themba Nyathi has also been very ruthless in
his statements. Since the beginning of the problems facing the MDC, this man
has been sending the most inflammatory statements of the two camps. He
forgets he is the party's spokesman and equates Tsvangirai to the state
president in being a "dictator".

He doesn't even see that he is
also behaving no better than Jonathan Moyo, who left a legacy of splashing
reckless inflammatory statements when he was Minister of Information. He
should learn to forgive and Tsvangirai of all people is mortal and also
makes mistakes.

Nyathi should be more diplomatic in his statements as
this can save his political life.

When the senate elections are
over and if the two factions iron out their differences, cleansing time
won't spare these lesser officials. Tsvangirai needs Ncube and Sibanda the
same way Ncube and Sibanda need Tsvangirai for a more focused
MDC.

The truth is that Tsvangirai flouted the party constitution and
will not win the case in any fair court of law. He should be able to swallow
his pride and say he erred when he vetoed the MDC national council decision
on October 12. He should have engaged his colleagues and tried to convince
them about not going into the senatorial elections.

Now we hear
Tsvangirai wants to change the party constitution to suit himself. Instead
of changing the constitution to give himself "more powers" he should give
the people power by going back to the grassroots if leaders are in a
stalemate.

He argues that senatorial elections are a waste of money
and a senate is worthless in the current Zimbabwean set-up. Then the
question is: why is he going around convincing MDC supporters only not to
participate in the senatorial elections and leaving out Zanu PF
supporters?

On the other hand, the Ncube faction has the constitution
on their side but are they certain that they have the people at heart? They
too should have put on hold personal glory and asked themselves whether they
were supposed to go ahead and campaign for senate seats after "winning" the
national council vote or they should have gone back to the people on the way
forward.

Is it because Tsvangirai is too "dull" to believe in the
people's support? The Ncube faction may be full of educated people but they
alienate themselves from the people by thinking that they are too educated.
They forget that Zanu PF and PF Zapu won the liberation struggle by having
managed to pull the masses to their side.

Can't they learn from
Abel Muzorewa's demise? He lost it because he thought people fancy
intelligent ideas like ministerial posts for blacks without total
independence.

No, people want real politics that will deliver them
from the abject poverty they are in today. They can only be liberated
through politics and not the constitution.

Yes a constitution is
important but it should serve the people and not the leaders' interests
only. Eddison Zvobgo said about the 1987 amended constitution that "the same
document can be executed in 70 different ways".

Even the MDC
constitution must please the people and protect the people and not the
leaders. So before they became too bigheaded about a legal document and
isolating senatorial elections to a few districts of the country, this
faction should have sought a national mandate for participation or risk
turning the MDC into a district party like Zanu (Ndonga) and Egypt
Dzinemunenzva's African National Party.

Tsvangirai a liability

Zim Independent

MOST Zimbabweans -- both
urban and rural - welcomed the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) when it
arrived on the political scene in 1999. Of course Zanu PF then went on to
intimidate all people to "rein in the dissidents".

This it
successfully did because Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF have defeated the MDC in
all presidential and parliamentary elections since the opposition party's
inception.

However, even then in the presidential election of 2002,
41% of the electorate supported the MDC despite the violence perpetrated
against them. That was a significant figure because the atrocities unleashed
against MDC supporters have never been seen on a national scale in this
country.

The people saw in the MDC a change to the inept,
undemocratic and corrupt leadership of the past 19 years.

Six
years after the party was formed we have a sad scenario where the leader of
the party has refused to uphold democratic principles because a decision
went against him. This is his undoing because that is what posterity will
now remember Morgan Tsvangirai for.

What he has done is aligning
himself to the Zanu PF/Mugabe ideology that does not accept dissenting views
- a sad turn of events for one who was held in such high
esteem.

Recently the leader of the oldest democracy in the world,
Tony Blair, lost a vote in parliament that he invested his personal
authority in. A vote that he personally drove but saw about 48 of his own
MPs voting against him.

Blair did not say that he did not care if the
party split. He took on the collective democratic responsibility that says
even if I'm in the right and they are wrong, if the majority has spoken then
let it be. If one has failed to convince the people, then let it
be.

Blair did not say that because the majority of the "dissidents"
were Scottish or Welsh, there's a tribal agenda. No, he respected the will
of the people, even though he went on to publicly declare that those who had
voted against his plan were "out of touch with the will of the
people".

Blair said "he would rather lose and be right than win and
be wrong". Wow!

Going on further with the example of Blair, his
defeat has sparked what analysts are calling a leadership question. Since
this is Blair's first defeat, is it time for him to leave the leadership of
the party? One defeat and his future is in jeopardy.

The MDC
under Tsvangirai has suffered three national defeats - a presidential poll
and two parliamentary elections - and soon a senate election. It is time to
seriously consider replacing Tsvangirai.

The MDC president has become
a liability to the party. We are all very disappointed with you Tsvangirai,
not because you stood for what was right, but because of your undemocratic
tendencies. That is your legacy - emulating Mugabe in his quest to create a
society of subservience.

Zimbabweans don't deserve democracy

Zim Independent

By Bill
SaidiAROUND this time last year, I was at Old Trafford, the Theatre of
Dreams, watching Wayne Rooney score a briliant goal against Southampton.
Thirty years earlier, I had watched George Best mesmerise the Liverpool
defence in a game they drew 1-1 with their perennial rivals.

For that
game, I was in the VIP section at Old Trafford, a guest of my favourite
club.

Last year, I was in the terraces, courtesy of a ticket offered
to me by a colleague.

I was in Manchester to make a modest
contribution to Visions of Zimbabwe, an exhibition at the Manchester City
Gallery, featuring such famous Zimbabwean artists as Voti Thebe, Tapfuma
Gutsa, Berry Bickle, David Brazier, Chikonzero Chazunguza, Alice Tavaya and
Chaz Maviyane-Davies.

I was one of three journalists taking part in the
exhibition, with an improvised shebeen den, which I said was popular as a
meeting place for journalists and politicians in the 1960s, when nationalist
organisations were banned.

It had genuine 60s furniture, an old
radiogram and the music of the Dark City Sisters, from my own record
library.

It was a hit with many visitors to the
exhibition.

The other journalists were Grace Mutandwa, formerly of
the Financial Gazette, and Andrew Meldrum, correspondent of The Guardian who
had been based in Harare for 22 years, until his deportation a few months
earlier.

My contribution in the catalogue of the exhibition was on
the plight of the journalist in Zimbabwe. It was a rather personalised
account of a career in the trenches, beginning with my induction as a cadet
reporter at the African Daily News in 1957, and almost ending with the
shut-down of The Daily News in 2003.

The exhibition was put
together by Raphael Chikukwa, who wrote in his introduction to the
catalogue: "When words fail, art speaks."

Most of the pieces were
critical of a Zimbabwe in real turmoil, with itself, with the rest of the
world - almost - and with its unfulfilled promises of freedom after
independence from colonial rule.

There were controversial photographs
by a former colleague at the Daily News, Tsvangirai Mukwazhi, some of which
we had published. They illustrated, in stark, graphic detail how the
promises of 1980 had been ignored by Zanu PF.

All the
participants had to fend off questions from the local media about the
presumed danger of returninng to our homeland after taking part in an
exhibition so critical of the government of President Robert
Mugabe.

Most of us said we had no hesitation in returning home.
"Would we not be bundled off to prison as soon as we landed at the airport?"
we were asked.

To be sure, among the visitors to the exhibition, in
the heart of Manchester, were people from the Zimbabwean embassy, disguised
either as indigent Zimbabwean exiles anxious for any handouts or news from
home, or as journalists from the thriving black-conscienceness media in the
UK.

At the time, it did not occur to me that the government would
worry about us to the extent of actually arresting us on our
return.

Months later, of course, the government announced there would
be a new law under which citizens who travelled abroad and spouted criticism
of the government would have their passports withdrawn.

I should
be thankful for small mercies, it would seem.

I doubt that any
vigorous campaign will be launched to force the government to abandon this
heartless assault on the freedom of the citizen to travel. Recently, I have
come to the sad conclusion that we Zimbabweans really don't deserve
democracy. Certainly, we don't deserve a free press. Although most of us
fought colonialism to bring democracy to our country, once Independence was
achieved, we lacked the cojones to fight for that democracy and even for a
free press.

This may sound farcical, but I am always reminded of an
old reggae hit by Third World: "Now that we have found love, what are we
gonna do with it."

For "love" substitute "Independence". Since 1980,
the government has trampled recklessly on the people's fundamental rights
without so much as a whimper from the citizens. There is much evidence that
we lack the courage to stand up to the government when it introduces such
legislation as the Public Order and Security Act (Posa), the Access to
Information and Protection of Privacy Act (Aippa), and the Constitutional
Amendment No 17 which created the monster called the senate - a glorified
junkyard for disused politicians.

Since I am naturally concerned
with the rights of the journalist, I want to refer to a recent attack on the
media by the governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, Gideon
Gono.

In his latest quarterly monetary review, the most strident he
has delivered so far, he chastised the media for joining the alleged enemies
of the state. In short, he assailed their tendency of not accentuating the
positive in the now headless-chicken turnaround programme.

Not
once did he acknowledge that, as facts are sacred to journalists,
accentuating the positive is possible and plausible only when the facts do
so.

If they don't, the journalist who creates a positive spin in
the absence of the facts knows what his colleagues call
him.

There is a chasmitic difference between journalism and public
relations, although there are people, particularly politicians and civil
servants, who tend to confuse the two for their nefarious
purposes.

Gono, as the typical "establishment praise-singer" he has
become, would not acknowledge that the media in Zimbabwe is under siege. He
would not mention the ban on four newspapers: the Daily News, the Daily News
on Sunday, the Tribune and the Weekly Times. He spoke as if the media
landscape was perfectly normal.

The jackboot of Aippa has
squashed the life out of newspapers. There is a tight rope around the necks
of all editors and reporters. One small mistake and that rope could be
tightened enough to squeeze the life out of them.

Gono is not alone
in viewing the media landscape with equanimity. A recent workshop on the
fight against HIV and Aids featured activists advising journalists on how to
be more effective in their coverage of the pandemic.

Not one of them
decried the absence of four soldiers in the fight - the newspaper banned
under Aippa.

Not one of them would acknowledge that under Aippa a
journalist could be jailed for five years if, in the opinion of the
custodians of that law, he had published a "falsehood" relating to the
campaign against HIV/Aids.

Not many people appealing to the media to
do this or that acknowledge that since Independence, journalists have been
terrorised by this government. Not many mention the terrible fate of Willie
Musarurwa, an outstanding defender of the country's right to Independence
and the right of the people to enjoy that Independence to the
full.

Hardly any of them mention the name of Mark Chavunduka, a young
man in his 30s, who may have died of natural causes, but like Musarurwa, had
been thoroughly traumatised by the government terror campaign against
journalists.

Citizens who know that the fight against colonialism
was waged so relentlessly because they too wanted to enjoy the freedoms
enshrined in the United Nations Charter are silent when those same rights
are trampled underfoot with breathtaking impunity by the
government.

The same citizens will not raise a hue and cry when the
government promulgates laws such as Posa and the Constitutional Amendment
Act No 17.

In the late 1980s, before the tenth anniversary of
Independence, Edgar Tekere complained that "Democracy was in the intensive
care unit." His outrage led him to speak out so loudly against the
government Zanu PF expelled him from its ranks. When I read he had been
picked as a Zanu PF candidate for the senate election, I was alarmed. I have
known the man for more than 30 years and I wondered what had happened to
him.

When it was announced he had been "dropped", I was massively
relieved.

Zimbabwean democracy, by now, is not only in the intensive
care unit but has challenged the most qualified physicians in the world to
help it evince even a spark of life.

The men and women in charge
of Zimbabwe can be described as inveterate party animals. To celebrate the
Silver Jubilee of Independence, they pulled out all the
stops.

Later, it was publicly acknowledged that the government had
spent so much foreign currency during this bash there was not enough left
over to buy any more fuel.

So, in planning the celebrations, the
government sat down and decided that even if it meant there would be no
money left over to buy fuel, this shindig had to be the biggest since
1980.

And that is how it happened. Nobody raised a finger in protest.
How do such people deserve democracy? Or a free press?

We do not need another Mugabe

Zim Independent

By Brilliant
MhlangaFOLLOWING what has now become the daily diet of Movement for
Democratic Change (MDC) politics, one wonders whether the party will ever go
back to ideals of democracy they always purported to purvey.

The MDC
leadership is busy on a massive crusade of name-calling. I challenge all
well-meaning Zimbabweans to revisit the terms used in this pejorative
process of name-calling and unwarranted behaviour. Imagine some one being
labelled a "goblin", then the other being referred to as "smelly", while he
retorts and describes the other as having suffered from
"diarrhoea".

The question that quickly comes to mind is: do
Zimbabweans really need this diatribe?

We have had enough,
ranging from the comic Vice President Joseph Msika to the recently hilarious
head of state, President Mugabe. We definitely do not expect the opposition
to expose us to this kind of foul language. One wonders whether this is the
kind of democracy they were going to display had they ascended into power in
2002. This is not only cantankerous but serves to show MDC's lack of
political maturity.

I submit the argument that the MDC has departed
from its original founding principles, therefore has become questionable and
thoroughly lacks plausibility. What we are seeing is in fact enough for us
to know that MDC has never had any founding principles. They also never had
an ideology. If they at least had some principles, we would expect the
echelons to arrest this ugly face they are showing.

Morgan
Tsvangirai's failure to bring together his mad house and the subsequent
spill over is enough for the nation to realise the bankruptcy of political
leadership and extreme levels of political mediocrity. It even confirms the
hollow fallacy associated with the attempt to see MDC as having had founding
principles. A party whose formation is primarily rooted on the anger of the
masses does not last.

One major truth is that anger cannot and will
never be substituted for a political principle. A principle should be
closely linked to the ideological motivation of the party, together with the
wisdom of forestalling such ludicrous behaviour in the event that there are
setbacks in the future. The solid foundation on which any meaningful group
of people base their future focus and the course of action which follows
thereafter, leading to the ultimate taking of power from the ruling party
must be guided by a strong principle and political will.

The
major founding principle should be people first. Of course not the Zanu PF
warped way of seeking political fortunes for the ruling thugs, who later
turn against the same people they purport to be representing and destroy
their source of livelihood. That is not anywhere close to a political
principle.

The MDC's political weaknesses are not different from
that of Zanu PF. Maybe the only difference is that Zanu PF is enjoying the
benefits associated with incumbency. Both parties have a culture of
political patronage, a serious disease Zimbabweans must shun, if change is
to visit us any time soon.

Patronage is a serious mustard seed for
disaster. The verbal slurring currently enveloping the MDC is a result of
the works of political patronage which the leadership inculcated. They
created a "nearer to thee my God" character of a president, who now wallows
in political sanctity never to be paralleled. This political creation has
led to the failure of all MDC structures and now that he is being
challenged, any form of challenge is seen as lack of respect for the
leadership which must be decisively dealt with, in the Zanu PF political
style - mudslinging. This is what usually happens when people create a
political figurehead and make him believe his role has to equal Mugabe's
patronage in order to offset him. Zimbabwe does not even need another
Mugabe. It does not want anyone who seeks to equal Mugabe, but an
institutional overhaul.

To avoid political patronage, it must be
clearly laid down as a principle that no one is more equal than others. It
must also be clearly stated that the constitution is the supreme law of the
land. Respect for the party constitution cannot be over-emphasised. Zimbabwe
does not need patronage any more. We now need a leader who will undertake to
operate within his constitutional mandate. This implies that Zimbabwe still
has to go through a rigorous constitutional reform. The impetus for a new
constitution is due to the untrustworthy nature of human beings. And so
because we don't trust any human being, let alone a big entity like MDC, we
enact constitutional frameworks to ensure that the continued participation
of the masses in fashioning the democracy they want is not curtailed. This
ideal has failed in the MDC, the leadership has done everything they can to
disturb their organisational structures. The masses are very doubtful they
can trust the MDC with national structures.

I therefore conclude
that Zimbabwe no longer needs thr MDC. In my view, Zanu PF is better off
with the MDC for an opposition party than is the ordinary Zimbabwean. In
fact, Zanu PF badly needs the MDC at this stage; they are even better off
with Tsvangirai as the leader with his headstrong ways. The existence of the
MDC serves to indirectly install Zanu PF's illegitimate regime and its
continued hold on power. The MDC is by all means proving to be politically
hopeless and serving as a Zanu PF plant in the broader Zimbabwean politics
meant to impede other political players from taking the stage and obviously
unseating the ruling party.

This madness must not be allowed to
continue for long. Otherwise people cannot afford to hide behind silence and
blame it on these opposition leaders. Yes, these leaders are wrong, but it
is the duty of responsible citizens to remind leaders of whatever kind that
they are from the people. For now the wrongs of the leadership are conjured
up by our sins of silently watching when they embark on acts of
madness.

Zim's inflation entrenches poverty

Zim Independent

A TICKLISH quip
about the late Ugandan leader Idi Dada Amin instructing his army commander
to go and shoot inflation on sight if he ever came across him for the havoc
it was causing among the civilian population should have resonance among
Zimbabwe's monetary authorities.Runaway inflation, rated among the highest
in the world, has thrown Zimbabweans into the league of paupers with more
that 80% of the population living way below the poverty datum line.The
economic scourge has also eroded disposable incomes while national savings
have been wiped out, killing whatever remained of the culture of saving
among the populace.Millions of Zimbabweans have been reduced to a
hand-to-mouth existence, without any hope about the futureThe country's
working population can no longer afford the benchmark of US$1 a day -
equivalent to about $60 000 on the official market and approximately $100
000 on the parallel market.According to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe, a
basket of goods for a family of six last month cost $11,9 million from $9,6
million in September.A majority of workers in Zimbabwe earn far less than
that a month.A good barometer of how bad things have gone in a country once
touted as having the greatest potential for growth at Independence in 1980
is a comparison of what one could buy in relation to the value of the local
currency now.The price of bread, a basic commodity, is now about $40
000, enough to buy a house in the leafy Greendale suburb of Harare in the
1980s.The price of bread doubled less than a month ago from $22 000 a loaf.
Prices of most brands of mealie-meal have gone up tenfold over the last
month and experts say the surge is likely to intensify as national food
stocks shrink.Last week, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) announced an
increase in the year-on-year inflation by 51,2 percentage points to 411%,
further dampening any hope of salvation through the much-touted economic
turnaround.The CSO said the October annual inflation rate, a key economic
indicator, was 411% after increasing from September's rate of
359,8%."This means that on average goods and services normally purchased by
households for final use in Zimbabwe were 5,11 times as expensive in October
2005 as they had been 12 months before, in October 2004," the CSO
said.Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon Gono has shifted his inflation
forecasts for year-end from between 20-35% earlier this year to between
35-50% and later to 50-80% before recently climbing down again to settle for
280-300%.In his monetary policy last month, Gono all but admitted
failure to rein in inflation as he appeared to be losing the war against an
unrelenting economic decline.But he put on a brave face insisting that
"failure is not an option" even though all social and economic indicators
seem to conspire against his public pronouncements.Year-on-year
inflation rose from 265% in August to 359% in September before climbing to
411% last month.In a report last month, the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) said inflation would rise above 400% by year-end.Non-food
inflation accounted for 414,7%, a 23,3 percentage points increase on the
September figure of 391,4%, while food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation
was 407,5%, a 99,3 percentage points rise on last month's rate.On a
year-on-year basis, items that recorded the highest increases in prices were
bicycles, postal services and hairdressing salons.By comparison, on a
month-on-month basis regional airfares, electricity charges and railway
fares recorded the highest increases.The continued rise in inflation appears
to reflect a deepening economic crisis although government officials have
been talking about an upturn since last year.The country has been
buffeted by foreign currency shortages thathave in turn spawned severe fuel,
power, drug and spare parts shortages.The IMF said Zimbabwe's economy would
shrink by 7% this year, after a 4% contraction last year and 10,5% in
2003.The central bank claims the economy will grow by 2-2,5% even though it
cannot support its assertions with credible evidence.While Gono insists
that the inflation rate will be within the 280-300% range by December and
decelerate in the first quarter of next year, economists forecast the rate
to hit 600% by February.They say the increase in inflation has killed the
nation's spirit of saving, will worsen labour disputes, widen the gap
between rich and poor and make Zimbabwe an unattractive investment
destination.Disposable incomes have been completely eroded and the
population cannot make any savings for a rainy day.Economic analyst John
Robertson said the gap between the rich and the poor would widen because
interest rates offered on savings only benefited those with large amounts of
money."People with ordinary savings are being robbed of their money as its
value is eroded by inflation which cannot be compensated by interest
earnings," Robertson said.He said labour disputes were also going to
worsen, as employees demand more frequent salary reviews against dwindling
company revenues.Civil servants, who now constitute more than 50% of the
workforce in the country, were last awarded a salary increment in January
when inflation was around 123%.Robertson said it would be difficult for
employers to give salary increments that match inflation as they are also
exploited through a poor exchange rate, foreign currency shortages and an
exporters' tax of 20%."We are receiving no foreign direct investment,"
Robertson said.Foreign direct investment is one of the major economic
drivers of developing nations. Zimbabwe has not received significant
external investment over the past five years due to poor governance and lack
of the rule of law.Investors have shied away from Zimbabwe because of its
unstable political and economic conditions.Instead, major investors in
the country like BHP and Lonrho have closed down operations and several
others have relocated to neighbouring countries that offer better
prospects.Falcon Gold, once one of the largest gold producers in the
country, has threatened to close down due to high operational
costs.According to a Platinum and Palladium 2005 survey by London-based
GFMS, Zimbabwe's costs of mining platinum shot up by 55% last year, making
it one of the most expensive places to mine in the world.Robertson said
unlike Malaysia that is always touted as an example to emulate, the Zimbabwe
government lacks discipline and cannot take difficult political
decisions.Explaining his government's experiences in economic empowerment at
the Sheraton in Harare last week, former Malaysian prime minister, Mahathir
Mohamad, said his government did not randomly seize farms and companies that
were in the hands of neocolonialists but managed to achieve what Zimbabwe is
trying to do without upsetting the applecart.Unlike Zimbabwe which
acquired land haphazardly from white commercial farmers, Mohamad said his
government initiated resettlement schemes on land that was not occupied to
build local capacity.He said the Malaysian government did not nationalise
companies that were foreign-controlled but waited until a time when they had
enough money, formed a company and started buying shares in the companies
and ultimately became majority shareholders.He said his country wanted
foreign companies to continue operating profitably and above all made
foreign investors feel safe in Malaysia.Local companies are operating under
a heavy burden of taxes, foreign currency scarcity and high interest rates
which translate into a high cost of borrowing against controlled prices of
basic commodities.

Economic turnaround requires
bold budget

Zim Independent

Eric Bloch Column

THE seemingly endless decline of the Zimbabwean economy since
1997, and the consequential continuing intensification of hardships for ever
greater numbers, has resulted in almost all of the population desperately
craving change. In turn, the yearning for economic transformation has
resulted in the population moving constantly from one crisis of expectations
to another, anxiously striving to grasp some hope that the long-awaited
economic upturn will be triggered into being.That is driven by
government's ceaseless assurances that an economic metamorphosis is
imminent, notwithstanding that time after time those assurances have proved
to be baseless and naught but empty words. So desirous is the populace for
the critically needed change to the distraught economy that despite all
government's past promises and predictions of economic transformation having
proved to be unfounded, nevertheless each time there is to be any
governmental announcement of an economic nature, there is a surge of
expectations.That was the characteristic of most of Zimbabwe prior to the
Reserve Bank's third quarter monetary policy statement, presented by
governor Gideon Gono on October 20, but no matter how substantive some of
its measures, overnight economic revival could not materialise, and has not
done so.However, another potentially significant economic policy event now
lies ahead, being the presentation to parliament (and thereafter to the
unnecessarily created, and unjustifiably costly, senate) of Zimbabwe's 2006
budget by the Minister of Finance, Herbert Murerwa. He will be tabling that
Budget in Parliament in less than a fortnight's time, on December 1, and
subsequently, on a yet to be determined date, to the senate, and rapidly
more and more Zimbabweans are speculating upon its likely contents, their
desperation fuelling their hopes for a budget which will constructively
reform the economy and ease the lot of the distressed majority. But, at the
same time, the numerous past crises of expectation failed to deliver, and
therefore the present crisis of expectations is muted by a growing
pre-conviction that the budget will, in practice, be a non-event.In
particular, there is a justifiably widespread belief that although Minister
Murerwa undoubtedly knows what is necessary to be done, he will yet again be
prevented from doing the necessary because governmental ideologies and
political objectives will, as heretofore, override national
need.Interestingly, whilst in prior years there has been extensive
pre-Budget consultation between the Ministry of Finance and numerous
representative bodies of diverse economic sectors, the recent run-up to the
Budget has not only included such consultations, but also interactions with
"the man-on-the-street". Undoubtedly the minister has been given far
greater insight than in the past into the public's needs and expectations,
but there is widespread scepticism that he will be able to react
substantively to that insight, for political dogmatism of his masters will
inevitably override the best interests of the poverty-stricken
masses.From a taxation point-of-view, the two most prevalent "demands" are
that the taxation thresholds and bands be realistically adjusted, and that
in similar vein the tax credits and allowances be meaningfully increased.
At the present time, employees pay income tax on monthly income in excess of
$1,5 million, at rates moving upwards from 20% to a ceiling of 40% on income
in excess of $9 million per month. Inflation having pushed the Poverty Datum
Line (PDL) for a family of six to over $12 million, such taxation is
untenable. How can it conceivably be justified to exact tax on an income of
only an eighth of PDL, and to apply a maximum, horrendous rate of 40% on
income above three-quarters of PDL?It is unconscionable to extort such
tax from the poor! Moreover, much of the niggardly remaining after-tax
income of the oppressed taxpayer then disappears in direct taxes, such as
17,5% value added tax (Vat) on much of the spending of those remnants of
income, Customs Duties built into product prices, and the like. Allowing
for the probability of two income earners in poor families, the minimum tax
threshold should be $6 million per month, but more justly at least $8
million per month, and even that does not give recognition to the inevitable
inflation over the year ahead.Similarly, tax credits and allowances require
radical review. How on earth can government justify limiting tax credits
for blind persons, mentally and physically disabled, and the elderly to an
amount equating to less than ten loaves of bread per annum? It is as
unreasonable, and verging on the unjust, to limit the tax deduction for
pension contributions to a niggardly $1 440 000.But modification of
Zimbabwean taxation should not relate only to impacts upon the poor. Very
correctly, a year ago Murerwa motivated a change to allowances for capital
gains tax, intending that the tax should apply to actual gains, as distinct
from the notional gains occasioned by inflation. But, having fairly
prescribed that each year's allowance should equate to that year's
inflation, the legislation was (and still is) vague and capable of
misinterpretation, in that Zimra restricts the allowances to each year's
inflation without applying the compounding effect that in fact pertains to
inflation. Equity dictates that this should be rectified (with
retrospective effect).In his 2005 budget statement, Minister Murerwa was
emphatic that further representations for Vat exemptions and zero-ratings
would not be entertained. However, economic circumstances dictate that he
should reconsider that stance. In particular, medical and educational
services should not be Vat exempt, but should be zero-rated. By so doing,
health services providers and educationalists can recover Vat paid by them
on goods and services, claiming those payments as input tax. In that event
they would not have to treat the Vat they pay as operating costs which they
must recover in the fees that they must charge. So many Zimbabweans can no
longer afford health services, and are calamitously embattled in trying to
fund their children's education. Government can give a little alleviation to
them by zero-rating health and education.Of overriding concern is that
the 2006 budget should demonstrate a real intent by government to cut its
spending markedly. The magnitude of government's over-spend, year after
year, and its resultant recourse to gargantuan borrowings, has been one of
the greatest contributants to the intense hyperinflation that has plagued
Zimbabwe. Government needs to move towards a balanced budget, and to
adherence to that budget. It is all very well that it talks of reducing the
swollen public service, but with 80% of civil servants being nurses,
doctors, teachers and the like, the extent of possible reduction is
limited.Moreover, unless the reduction is achieved by natural attrition, the
retrenchment packages will be crippling. Public service reduction must be
pursued, but so should cut-backs in Defence spending, in supporting an
excessive number of embassies abroad, in endless trips by monstrously large
delegations, in huge cavalcades and the like. Zimbabwe must swallow its
pride and accept food aid, instead, of funding massive imports from
debt.Government should also reconsider, yet again, its position on the
privatisation of parastatals. Not only would the economy benefit from the
efficiencies and greater productivity generally forthcoming from
privatisation (as proven in innumerable instances in the United Kingdom,
much of mainland Europe, USA, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia and
elsewhere), but government would be progressively relieved of debt and
guarantees, and in some instances would generate revenue inflows from the
disposals of assets.Most of all, the 2006 budget statement needs to
evidence a genuine intent of government to be investment facilitative. That
would be a major factor in achieving the so long desired and greatly needed
economic turnaround. It would strengthen the taxation base, by the creation
of more taxable entities, expansion of existing ones. It would create
employment, resulting in more domestic trade. That facilitation must
include evidence of a real intent to honour Bilateral Investment Promotion
and Protection Agreements (BIPPAs), to enter into further double taxation
treaties, creation of meaningful investment incentives, reconciliation with
the international community, and providing investment protection guarantee
insurance through internationally-recognised facilities (such as the World
Bank's MIGA facility).The crisis of expectations exists, but weakened by
little hope that the expectations will be met.

Wanted: spelling lessons for
Mugabe

Zim Independent

Comment

HAVING witnessed the rich irony of President Mugabe addressing
meetings on food security in Harare and Rome, we were last week treated to
the equally ludicrous spectacle of him addressing regional leaders on
democracy."Democracy (in developing countries) is still under the great
burden of trying to prove itself to Europe," he told a gathering of the
Southern African International Dialogue in Maseru. Zimbabwe would stand firm
in refusing to have its elections unfairly judged by Britain, he
said.The list is a bit longer than that. In fact the only countries that
will be permitted to judge elections in Zimbabwe are those that can be
guaranteed to ignore rigging such as China, Russia, the AU and Sadc.But
the incongruities did not stop there. The assembled leaders, who included
Mugabe's old pal Dr Mahathir Mohamad, former prime minister of Malaysia,
proceeded to lecture the press on its role in society. They even found some
fool, calling himself a "former Western journalist", to stand up and say he
was very sorry for "things we have not done right".His name was Andrew
Taussig, for the record.Then we had a litany of complaints from these
unaccountable leaders about how they had been treated at the hands of the
media. Lesotho premier Pakalitha Mosisili said journalists "could even
disrespect elders and leaders in their reports".Surely not! Actually
treating these self-important, self-imposed, self-serving creatures to the
scrutiny they deserve? Did any of the reporters present, for instance, ask
what goodies Mahathir had brought along for the Mugabe family home?We
recall him encountering embarrassing questions from opposition MPs in the
Malaysian parliament when he donated timber to Mugabe.

Then we had
George Charamba telling stories. He claimed that Western journalists were
trained "in the context of national values which inculcated in them the need
to defend national interests".What examples can he give of such training?
Did he experience such "inculcation" when he was the beneficiary of a
British scholarship?Has he ever read any articles by Gary Younge or Polly
Toynbee in the Guardian? Is he unaware that significant segments of the
British media are loudly opposed to Britain's role in Iraq? Can you imagine
anybody at the Herald daring to criticise Zimbabwe's role in the
Congo?The most notable thing about the Southern African International
Dialogue is this yawning chasm between rhetoric and reality. Here is an
organisation based on the concept of smart partnerships between governments
and the private sector. Mugabe is able to fly to Lesotho to pontificate on
the need for such cooperation when his ministers such as Didymus Mutasa and
Chris Mushohwe are busy threatening farms and businesses with
seizure.While Mugabe was at SAID in Maseru, state-sponsored raiders were
plundering farms in Mwenezi of tractors and irrigation equipment, the
product of years of investment.How smart was that? And the state media
here needs to be educated on how self-sufficient Malaysia was when it
rejected IMF prescriptions in 1998. Its leaders had built it into a dynamic
modern economy, the very opposite of Zimbabwe whose leaders have reduced it
to a basket case dependent upon international charity.This is what the
Sunday Mail's Munyaradzi Huni, who invariably appears anxious for somebody
to worship, had to say on Zimbabwe's predicament: "The country's economic
turnaround programme seems to have gone off the rails, but great statesmen
like Dr Mahathir know that 'failure is not an option'."And that's the best
he can do!

Meanwhile, the conviction of former finance minister and
deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, seen as a political threat to Mahathir,
was overturned by the country's federal court in September 2004, nearly a
year after Mahathir's departure from office.Anwar had been charged with
sexual assault but, in a ruling that will sound familiar to Zimbabweans, the
state's key witness proved unreliable and was described as a police
accomplice.He claimed the assault had taken place in an apartment block that
had not been built at the time. The original trial court allowed him to
change his evidence. In so doing it had misdirected itself, the federal
court ruled.Anwar's release from prison six years to the day since his
dismissal from government was greeted with jubilation by his supporters. His
continued detention had become an embarrassment to the government of Dr
Abdullah Badawi who has attempted to put some distance between himself and
the 22-year rule of his autocratic predecessor, news agencies
reported."You've got to recognise the fact that his predecessor wouldn't
have made this judgement possible," Anwar told reporters after his
release.No wonder Zimbabwean officials are saying "Dr M" has much to teach
us!

The president's nephew, Leo Mugabe, has been much in the news of
late. But it's not the sort of publicity he would want.He is accused of
reselling subsidised flour across the country's borders in what many in the
ruling party may call private enterprise. What interested us were reports
that at the time of his detention Leo complained bitterly that Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights had not taken the slightest interest in his
case."Where are all the human rights lawyers?" he was heard to
complain.And his wife Veronica couldn't understand why Leo had been singled
out when commodities trading was very much a family business!

Is
Harare town clerk Nomutsa Chideya a card-carrying member of Zanu PF? You
would certainly think so from his remarks about the Combined Harare
Residents Association. He described them as "people who get foreign funding
and want to please their masters by making unnecessary noise."They
should not use opposition parties to attack the operations of local
authorities but should learn to take up ownership of the city," he was
reported as saying in the Sunday Mail Metro."What we expect from
residents with the city at heart is to look at all fundamentals and find a
possible way forward."He certainly hasn't found a way forward despite being
kept in style by ratepayers over a number of years. We recall that house in
Milton Park. And what sort of arrogance is it that a paid official tells
Harare residents what he expects of them?This is what happens when long
years of service to the regime leads functionaries to conclude that they can
say - and do - what they like.What has Chideya done to improve water
supplies, road conditions, street lighting and refuse disposal? How does the
city look now compared to when he first took office?Official arrogance
and non-performance are very much a part of Zimbabwean public life. The two
seem to go together!Mr Chideya, get off your backside and achieve something
for Harare before you lecture ratepayers on what they should or should not
be doing. And who believes for one minute that "networking" with Russia is
going to produce anything, as you seem to think?Chideya said he placed
adverts in newspapers about the supplementary budget because the city only
had nine commissioners who did not have the capacity to visit all
residential areas to hold consultations.Why does he think anybody wants to
see these incompetent Zanu PF stooges? The residents want the return of
their elected council and they want it now. Hopefully, when democracy is
restored the first thing the elected council will do is booting Chideya
out.By the way, how much is that Milton Park house costing and who is paying
for it?

Congratulations to the Harare commission and the Zimbabwe
National Water Authority for their inimitable diligence. After years of
painstaking inquiry this week their efforts were handsomely rewarded.The
Sunday Mail Metro reports that the commission and Zinwa have discovered that
the city's "perennial water problems" are due to "poor infrastructure" at
water treatment plants. This made it "impossible" to pump water efficiently,
the paper reported. This had left many residential areas without water for
weeks on end.Adding further to our enlightenment on the city's water
problems, Chideya discovered that the increased number of residents was
"putting a lot of pressure on reservoirs".After this miraculous
discovery can we expect to see an improvement in service delivery? Can we
expect an apology or a reinstatement of Harare executive mayor Elias
Mudzuri, falsely accused by Ignatious Chombo of mismanagement of council
affairs?

Meanwhile, unlike the Herald, we were not surprised by the
conspiracy of silence by both the Harare commission and Chitungwiza council
on the outbreak of dysentery in the two cities. The paper said the two
councils had an ethical and legal responsibility of keeping their residents
informed of health risks.There could be three possible explanations why
they couldn't be bothered. It's the first time in many years that we have
heard somebody raising issues of ethics in Zanu PF operations. So perhaps
that word is not in their vocabulary. Secondly, both commissions can't have
a legal obligation towards residents who didn't elect them. Their first
obligation is to the minister who appointed them.The more probable
reason for the silence is the culture of denial in government. They don't
want to admit that their master is failing to run the two cities.Surely
the Herald hasn't forgotten that such simple home truths nearly cost
Bulawayo mayor Japhet Ncube his job when he said several residents had
starved to death in the city. President Mugabe went so far as to ask
Archbishop Pius Ncube to produce the bodies of the deceased.So who would
want to be called a saboteur and a puppet of the West by exposing such
inconvenient truths?

Finally, will somebody please pay for some spelling
lessons for the president. He says he can't spell Dell. But he can spell
hell.The reason he can spell hell is that he uses it all the time. "Practice
makes perfect". Everyone can go there, he thinks. But Dell is a bit more
problematic because the president hasn't come across it before.Muckraker
is sure that with a bit more use our very educated leader will get a grip on
it. The US ambassador must provide the homework for this presidential
self-improvement exercise by speaking out more often.Other words the
president has difficulty with are democracy, rule-of-law, good governance
and economic recovery. But being a slow learner he is unlikely to grasp
these before 2008.

* In our edition of October 7 we referred to a report
on ZimOnline that Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa had taken a second
wife. The report claimed this had caused complications with his first
wife.Chinamasa's lawyers have since written to say that the report is false
and tarnishes their client's "good name, fame, reputation and
esteem".

This is a matter we believe the minister should take up with
ZimOnline. But in the meantime we are happy to publish an apology as
requested by him if he feels his good name, fame, reputation and esteem have
suffered as a result of the reference to the report in this column.

Keep Them Out Appeal - Harare North, Central, East and Mabvuku

Dear Friends

MDC voted in our National Council meeting of 12
October to participate in the Senate election next Saturday 26 November for one
main reason - KEEP THEM OUT!

MDC has strongholds across the country, but
particularly in the cities and towns and in Matabeleland rural. We agreed that,
rather than surrender these hard-won strongholds to the other side without a
fight, we should contest those seats. The reason is not only to reduce the
ZanuPF presence in the Senate, but perhaps more importantly to stop them taking
the Senate seats over our MDC MPs and then being given the resources to destroy
MDC's influence in our strongholds.

Why should we surrender our territory without a
fight? Why should our MPs be made to look like fools while their Senators
splash our taxpayers' money all over the place, especially to their own members,
pretending that it comes from them? Why should we allow ZanuPF to come in and
destroy MDC? NO! Not without a fight!

This is why MDC has fielded 26 candidates in this
Senate election. We would have fielded more, had there not been confusion and
de-campaigning from the side determined not to respect the party's constitution
and procedures - but that issue is now, sadly, too well aired.

I appeal to you to support your brave MDC Senate
candidates, especially if you have one in your constituency. They need
logistical and financial support, and they most especially need YOUR VOTE on
Saturday 26 November.

For Harare -Tafara-Mabvuku, your candidate is Frank
Chamunorwa, currently Secretary for Mashonaland East Province but who resides in
Sentosa, in Harare North. Mr Chamunorwa stood for MDC in Marondera in 2000 but
was attacked and hospitalised with a broken arm during the election. More
recently he was kidnapped from his home by supposed MDC members during the
"Disturbances at Harvest House" in May this year, by the group which was
expelled and dismissed on the recommendations of the Inquiry report, which group
is now reinstated. He was beaten, tied up, thrown into a vehicle and taken to
the opposite side of the city by supposed MDC youth in an attempt to steal party
vehicles from Prof Ncube's residence. He suffered a broken arm as well as other
minor injuries and trauma. Frank Chamunorwa is a war veteran and former civil
servant.

I am helping coordinate his campaign in these 4
constituencies - Harare Central, Harare North, Harare East and Mabvuku - and
would welcome any donations or offers to help (drivers, fuel, vehicle,
communications including phoning, catering for some polling agents/a polling
station next Saturday, coordination, flyer distribution...). Donations by
cheque to me personally T Stevenson or F Chamunorwa or drop off cash or cheque
at my home 4 Ashbrittle Crescent, Emerald Hill tel 304492. We will also be happy
to collect - just give us a call!

Remember MDC candidates need YOUR VOTE on Saturday
26 November. Voter turnout is likely to be very low, so it will be VERY EASY
for you to go and cast your vote to support MDC and CHANGE for a New Zimbabwe, a
New Beginning.

'We'll pray for you', Zim tells SA reporter

The intelligence ministers of South Africa and
Zimbabwe took exception to a reporter's question on human rights at the
signing of a bilateral agreement in Cape Town on Thursday.

Zimbabwean minister Dydimus Mutasa called on defence and security officials
from both Zimbabwe and South Africa to pray for the forgiveness of the
journalist, who accused Zimbabwe of human rights abuses.

It arose
during the signing of two agreements between South Africa and Zimbabwe in
which they agreed to establish a joint commission of defence and security
and for Zimbabwe's flying instructors to train South African Air Force
pilots.

The journalist asked intelligence minister Ronnie Kasrils
how South Africa, with a "good human rights track record", could sign
agreements with Zimbabwe, who was said to have a "poor human rights
record".

A clearly embarrassed Kasrils immediately
apologised for the journalist's question. But Mutasa said the question was
to be expected.

"I just want to say that he (the reporter) doesn't
have to apologise to us and that perhaps the best (is) that all of us here
should agree to say to our honourable reporter is simply, to pray for
him.

"Lord forgive him for he does not know what he is saying,"
Mutasa said at the inaugural meeting of the South Africa/Zimbabwe joint
permanent commission on defence and security.

"The liberation
struggle was much more painful than the insults we are getting from some of
these misguided creatures," Mutasa said.

Kasrils berated the
media.

"I find it rather insulting that you (the reporter) should
level such a question here at us with this delegation from
Zimbabwe.

"I apologise to them that they have to sit here on an
historic occasion when we have signed two agreements which are so important
to the security, stability, the development of both our peoples and
countries," Kasrils said.

He stated South Africa was committed
to working with its neighbours and with Zimbabwe.

"They have
very daunting challenges. They are very frank about the kind of problems
they have to deal with.

"We agree with them fully when they situate
those problems within a context related to the colonial status of Zimbabwe,
which for so many years had the name Rhodesia thrust upon
them."

The question was bound to come, Zimbabwe's deputy home
affairs minister Sydney Sekeremayi told the gathering.

"All our
lives... was dedicated to fighting for freedom and it's an insult to say we
are abusing or violating human rights." - Sapa